The 500th Prima for Indian Railways

Alstom has delivered 500 electric locomotives to Indian Railways. On 25 March 2025, the 500th Prima T8 WAG12B was flagged off from Alstom’s facility in Madhepura, Bihar, in the presence of key dignitaries from Indian Railways Mr. Manish Kumar, Chief Administrative Officer and senior officials from Alstom at an event marking this project milestone.

As part of its contract worth 3.5 billion EUR, Alstom is supplying 800 high-powered double-section Prima T8 locomotives of 9,000 kW for freight service. Designated by Indian Railways as WAG-12B, these locomotives are capable of hauling around 6,000 tonne trains at a top speed of 120 km/h. To ensure high availability of India’s most advanced freight locomotives and reduce maintenance cost, Alstom has also built two modern depots, at Saharanpur and Nagpur, using predictive technologies.

The WAG-12B locomotives are being built at one of India’s largest integrated greenfield manufacturing facilities at Madhepura (Bihar), under a joint venture between Alstom and Indian Railways. This is the largest Foreign Direct Investment project in the Indian railway sector. The facility has a production capacity of 120 locomotives per annum and Alstom has progressively achieved near 90 % localisation.

Following our questions, Alstom clarified: 
- In 2025 a total 100 double-section Class WAG-12 (Prima T8) locomotives will be built, numbered 60501 to 60600.
- It is expected that the the final Prima 60800 will be delivered in March 2028.
- The Madhepura works has at present 330 employees.